A legal challenge by a Russian club team to prevent Evgeni Malkin from playing for the Pittsburgh Penguins has failed.

A U.S. District court judge ruled today from the bench that Metallurg's request for an injunction to keep Malkin from playing in the NHL this season has been rejected.

''We always have been confident in our position in Evgeni's case,'' Penguins vice-president of communications Tom McMillan said in a statement Wednesday. ''We are very happy for Evgeni, his family and Penguins fans.''

The Russian club may continue to pursue legal avenues and go to trail in order to seek compensation for the loss of Malkin, who had signed a contract to play in Russia this season, but Wednesday's ruling means Malkin will play this season in the NHL no matter what.

It will be up to the Russian club to decide whether to take the matter to trial, but today's ruling is considered a significant victory for Malkin, the Penguins and the NHL.

This game tonight against Buffalo really pissed me off. We deserved to WIN. So many missed oppurtunities. Man we really deserved at least a point in this game. Malkin had his first really bad game, though. Buffalo did learn, as Philly has learned numerous times, that if you piss Crosby off, he takes his game to an off the charts level. He was just superhuman in the 3rd period, if we had anyone who could close on his plays, he would have had a 5 point night, instead of having "just" 2 goals.

There's no wife and kids back home in Magnitogorsk, just a mom and dad. And, after all that's happened this fall, it's hard to argue Evgeni Malkin took a wrong turn.

But he sure as blazes went out for a ride and never went back.

Ever since the second week of August, Malkin has been a travellin' man. From Helsinki to Los Angeles and a dozen other cities in between.

Last night it was Buffalo and it was hardly his finest hour as a fledgling NHL star. In a 4-2 loss to the Sabres, he didn't look much like the kid who has lit it up in his first month, more like a guy who was a little road-weary.

He was pointless for only the fourth game this year, took a big hit that left him a little wonky in the third period and took a dumb penalty in the third period while his team was coming back.

To add insult to injury, in the final minute, after Sidney Crosby had scored his second goal of the game to pull Pittsburgh within one, Malkin's stick shattered while trying to keep the puck in the Buffalo zone, allowing Buffalo an empty-netter.

"We played well in the second and third," said Crosby, "but two out of three periods doesn't cut it, especially against a team like Buffalo. If we want to be competitive, we have to be better."

Malkin has been better, and will be better. The guy has been through a lot.

When the Iron Curtain fell, we all figured the cloak and dagger stuff involving Russian players had ended. You live in Moscow and you want to play in the NHL? Hop in a cab, go to the airport and, you know, take a powder.

Not so. At least not in Malkin's case. With no compensation plan in place between the NHL and Russia, his masters at Magnitogorsk Metallurg of the Russian Super League weren't going to give up.

After team officials showed up at his house in the middle of the night early in August and, according to Malkin, forced him to sign a renegotiated contract under duress, then withheld his passport in case he might flee, Malkin phoned his Canadian agent, J.P. Barry, and a plan straight out of a John LeCarre novel was hatched.

A week later, the Metallurg team flew to Helsinki for pre-season training. Malkin got off the plane with his teammates, but when they got to the bus outside the terminal, the 20-year-old had vanished.

For five days, the Russians searched high and low for Malkin in Helsinki. He was secreted in two different safe houses by a team of Finnish mercenaries while his American visa was processed.

Then, on Aug. 16, with Russian officials still in determined pursuit, Malkin slipped out of the country on a flight to New York and on to Los Angeles.

Not long after that, he signed with the Penguins who had drafted him second overall in 2004, paving the way for a magical beginning to Malkin's NHL career. After a shoulder separation delayed his start to the season by four games, Malkin scored in each of his first six games.

Malkin is making a prophet out of his fellow countryman, Alexander Ovechkin. At last year's NHL awards, where he was presented the Calder Trophy as the rookie of the year, Ovechkin predicted Malkin would be receiving it this year.

Hard to argue: In 13 games, Malkin has scored nine goals and assisted on six more. Included in those points are some highlight reel plays that have elicited comparisons to Mario Lemieux.

"These guys, they see the ice so well," said Lemieux, referring also to Crosby. "That's why they're both world class players. They don't need to speak on the ice. They see the ice, they see exactly what they want to do."

Given the mood of the boys back in Metallurg, Malkin may not be able to go home any time soon. In the meantime, it looks like he's busy making a new one.

your kidding right ? the puck hit the defenders skates and then bounced to moore, the idea was right but he was lucky that it worked. If it didnt hit the defenders skates it would have been 10 feet behind him.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Clockwork Orange

Malkin gets robbed of this 10th goal because Hatcher "accidentally" knocked the net off the moorings right before the puck went in. What a joke.

gimmie a break dood hatcher (the big dumb pylon) was looking at the other side of the arena when he skated into the net, no way this was done on purpose, i just dont think hes smart enough. Besides if the net wasnt forward 4 inches that shot goes wide of the net, the only reason it was in was because it got caught in the net that was out of position.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Clockwork Orange

3-0 Pens after the first period.

Man, they have just owned the Flyers this season.

good, all they have to do is own them for the next 9 years to get back to an almost 500 record.

Flyers vs Pens Record: 125 W - 69 L - 30 T ( 828 GF - 673 GA )

sorry bout crappin on your thread doood im just pissed off that the flyers suck so much, you won the game, its not like ya beat a good team or anything, hell i played on minor league teams that would beat the flyers this year.

congrats on the win, but i still think by the end of the year the flyers will have more points then the pens.

congrats on the win, but i still think by the end of the year the flyers will have more points then the pens.

Heh heh heh...thats funny. A Philthy-delphia fan talking **** to Penguins fans. Perhaps you didn't get the memo...you ****ing suck and we have owned your ass in a manner reminiscent of the 92-93 season series.

Heh heh heh...thats funny. A Philthy-delphia fan talking **** to Penguins fans. Perhaps you didn't get the memo...you ****ing suck and we have owned your ass in a manner reminiscent of the 92-93 season series.

You are 0-4 against us and you are the worst team in the league.

yeah well, its just to bad that ever since the 92-93 season we have owned your ass, like i said you can own us for the next 10 years and youll still have a losing record. Mark my words by the end of the season we will be higher then you in the standing.

yeah well, its just to bad that ever since the 92-93 season we have owned your ass, like i said you can own us for the next 10 years and youll still have a losing record. Mark my words by the end of the season we will be higher then you in the standing.

Doesn't matter, due to the philly curse - philly won't ever win a title. They will just continue to be humilated on a nat'l stage.

I won $1000 dollars from dumb ass flyer fans against detroit in the cup. man watching these suckers give me cash after being swept was hilarious, and oh so sweet.

oh no dont make fun of the city of philadelphia, that really hurts us canadians, philly is just like almost every other us city, its a dump, i really like the guys selling meat pies at the highway off ramps, that was my favorite.

oh no dont make fun of the city of philadelphia, that really hurts us canadians, philly is just like almost every other us city, its a dump, i really like the guys selling meat pies at the highway off ramps, that was my favorite.

I didn't insult the city of philly, i just noted that they will never win a championship.

your probally right, but i have this thing for the color orange, all my favorite teams have orange as a main color, broncos, flyers, mets sorta dont really watch baseball since the last strike or lockout whatever the hell it was.

I think the curse had more to do with bobby clarke as far as hockey was concered, so now that hes gone were gonna win the cup this year.